


Is This Thing On?

by Bandom_Squirrel



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Human Warrior Cats (Warriors), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Random prompt, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27590072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandom_Squirrel/pseuds/Bandom_Squirrel
Summary: Randomly generated promptShip: #8, Ravenpaw/BarleyType: #2, AUTrope: #4, Fan to loversSong: #19, Is This Thing On?
Relationships: Barley/Ravenpaw (Warriors)
Kudos: 12





	Is This Thing On?

“Alright, so, I agreed to cover an early shift at work tomorrow, and I was thinking we could have an early dinner and get to sleep sooner. Were you thinking burgers or pasta for tonight?”

“Barley.” Ravenpaw was lying on the couch looking upwards as his husband walked into the room, sitting down in the nearby easy chair. “When did our life become so boring?”

“I don’t think it’s that boring,” Barley shrugged, furrowing his brow in concern. “Do you? Just last week you were saying how you preferred this to your old rock star lifestyle.”

“I do prefer this,” Ravenpaw assured him, sitting up to properly look Barley in the eyes. “But we do the exact same thing every day, don’t you get tired of it? Don’t get me wrong, I love having this domestic life with you, but don’t you feel like we should do more exciting and spontaneous things while we’re still young?”

“I don’t know.” Barely leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and his expression told Ravenpaw that he was taking this seriously. “I guess sometimes I do. What kind of things do you have in mind?”

“We could still do that thing with Bella and Riley,” Ravenpaw blurted out, and immediately Barley sighed, leaning back in his chair. Ravenpaw resisted the urge to groan at Barley’s reaction, sitting up straighter and preparing to argue whatever points his husband was about to make. 

“Ravenpaw, I told you, we’re not leaving our jobs for a summer to take my sister’s kids on an impromptu road trip across the country,” Barley sighed, and Ravenpaw huffed indignantly. 

“We’re set on money for literal years! I wouldn’t be missing work because my job is based on gigs, and you’ve been working so much the past few years that you must’ve saved up in vacation days,” Ravenpaw objected, crossing his legs pointedly. 

“Who would take care of the farm while we’re gone?” Barley pointed out, and Ravenpaw felt like shouting in frustration. 

“Violet and her husband literally agreed to do that! Come on, Barley, it would be fun. We’d get to spend more time with your niece and nephew, and see interesting places, and just get away for awhile! I miss traveling, even though I’m glad that’s not my whole life anymore, and it would be romantic. Please, Barley, just consider it,” Ravenpaw pleaded. 

“No, Ravenpaw! We can’t just get up and leave with less than a week’s notice!” Barley argued, tone sounding pained. “Can’t we just have a fun little date night by instead?”

“You know that wouldn’t be enough,” Ravenpaw said coldly. “And you know what? I’m not going to disappoint your niece and nephew, so I’m going. With or without you.”

_ “Great show tonight!” Ravenpaw felt a hand forcefully pat his shoulder and turned to see Graypaw there, grinning at him and sweating. Ravenpaw smiled weakly, feeling drained from the show, but trying not to show it. Graypaw and Firepaw always seemed more energized after shows, and he didn’t like feeling like he couldn’t keep up.  _

_ “Thanks! You too,” Ravenpaw told his drummer, feigning excitement. Graypaw didn’t seem to notice, bouncing on the balls of his feet.  _

_ “Tigerclaw‘s hosting an afterparty, wanna come?” Ravenpaw just barely managed not to flinch at their manager’s name. “Firepaw’s ex and that girl he’s been flirting with are both gonna be there, so it’ll be hilarious! And who knows? Maybe we’ll find some girls there too.” And there it was, yet another thing separating him from his bandmates.  _

_ “I’m good,” Ravenpaw answered, trying to brush his answer off as casual. “I’m pretty tired, I think I’m just gonna go back to the hotel early.” _

_ “Alright,” Graypaw replied, not seeming too bothered by his refusal. “See you there!” Graypaw patted his shoulder again before skipping off, and Ravenpaw waved at him quickly before signing and walking out of the venue.  _

_ Just to his luck, his phone was out of battery, so he couldn’t call any sort of taxi service to drive him to his hotel. So much for the rockstar lifestyle, instead just standing at the side of the road in a ridiculous costume and too much eyeliner.  _

_ “Hey, you’re that singer from ThunderClan!” Ravenpaw looked up to see a man walking towards him with an excited smile. The man was a lot bigger than him, Ravenpaw couldn’t help but notice, but his voice sounded friendly, and Ravenpaw didn’t find himself feeling at all threatened.  _

_ “Yeah, that’s me,” Ravenpaw confirmed, and the man smiled at him happily. ThunderClan was just the opening band, so he wasn’t used to getting recognized by fans, and it actually felt really good that some random stranger appreciated him.  _

_ “That’s so cool! I love your show. I’m a big fan,” the man told him, and Ravenpaw smiled shyly at the praise. It was so much different hearing that from a stranger than from Graypaw. “My name’s Barley, by the way.” The man held out his hand to shake.  _

_ “I’m Ravenpaw,” Ravenpaw replied, taking Barley’s hand and shaking it. The handshake reminded him that this man would very much be able to break him in half, but he tried not to think about that.  _

_ “Nice to meet you,” Barley said, smiling sincerely, and Ravenpaw wondered what it said about him that the most comfortable he’d been in a conversation in months was with a complete stranger. “What are you doing standing at the side of the road?” _

_ “I was going to call a taxi or something to drive me to my hotel, but my phone’s out of battery and my bandmates bailed on me,” Ravenpaw explained, a touch of bitterness is his voice. It was early fall, and the night air was a bit chilly, even in his stupid leather jacket.  _

_ “My truck’s right over there, I can drive you,” Barley offered, and Ravenpaw hesitated. Barley was a near complete stranger, could easily beat him in a fight, and had admitted to being a fan. This could easily be some sort of sketchy kidnapping situation. But he had very few options, and he was willing to take the risk.  _

_ “Sure,” Ravenpaw agreed, and that’s how he ended in the passenger set of an attractive farmer’s pickup truck on his way to his hotel.  _

_ When they got there, Ravenpaw was about to get out, a goodbye to Barley already on the tip of his tongue, when through the window he spotted Tigerclaw loitering by the door. Immediately, he ducked as far down into his seat as possible, hoping his manager didn’t see him. Why was he there? He was supposed to be at the afterparty.  _

_ “Are you alright?” Barley asked from the driver’s seat, looking at him with concern. Before he could even contemplate lying, he was vehemently shaking his head at the question.  _

_ “I, uh, I-I can’t go in there,” Ravenpaw stammered, still not sitting all the way up and trying to keep himself from shaking. He should be over this by now. It had been months, and he saw Tigerclaw multiple times everyday. All the panic attacks upon seeing him had to stop.  _

_ “Why?” Barley asked, and he didn’t seem intrusive, just concerned. Ravenpaw inhaled shakily, not knowing how to even begin answering that question.  _

_ “It’s complicated,” Ravenpaw excused, trying to steady his breathing, and Barley didn’t push the matter any further. After a few moments, Ravenpaw decided to take his second risk of the night. “Hey, can you take me somewhere? Like, anywhere, I don’t care. I just can’t be here right now.” _

_ “Sure. I know a place.” _

_ Twenty minutes later, the two of them were lying on their backs on the platform of a children’s playground that was half in the woods and looked like it hadn’t been maintained in years. Barley had given Ravenpaw a sweatshirt that he’d happened to have in his truck, like the gentleman that he was. Now they were lying in the September night air, looking up at the stars as Ravenpaw ranted about things he’d never had the courage to say out loud before.  _

_ “And it’s like, I’m terrified. Constantly. That someone’s gonna finally see through my eyeliner and piercings and see that I’m just some timid kid! Firepaw and Graypaw are eventually going to realize I’m not as invested in the band as them, and then I’ll have nobody at all! And to make everything worse, my manager’s out to get me for god knows why, so I can’t even feel safe any of the time,” Ravenpaw babbled, gesticulating wildly as he spoke. He didn’t usually get worked up like this, but finally someone was willing to just listen, and everything he’d been holding in came pouring out all at once.  _

_ “What do you mean, out to get you?” Barley asked curiously. The entire conversation, he hadn’t been the slightest bit judgemental, which Ravenpaw was endlessly grateful for.  _

_ “You know, he’s only in it for the money, so he pushes me to do whatever makes us the most. He usually pushes me a bit past my limits, too. Almost like he wants me to burn out so he can replace me and make more, because it’s the other two with the real talent. He takes every chance to yell and me and make me feel bad about everything, and I’m just tired of it,” Ravenpaw explained, ignoring every instinct he had to curl up in on himself and hide. He wasn’t used to being that honest and vulnerable.  _

_ “That sounds horrible. Why don’t you just fire him?” Barley inquired, and Ravenpaw sighed, trying to piece together his groan of thought into words.  _

_ “I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Ravenpaw said finally. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Graypaw and Firepaw are musical geniuses but they don’t know how to take care of themselves. It would feel like starting over from scratch. And I know we could just hire someone else, but Tigerclaw built us up from the ground, and I owe him everything.” _

_ “You don’t owe him anything if he treats you like that,” Barley said darkly, and Ravenpaw was surprised by how much he genuinely seemed to care.  _

_ “Yeah, I know,” Ravenpaw acknowledged, already having resigned to his fate of dealing with it until at least tour was over. “What about you? I’ve told you basically all my insecurities now, so what’s your life like? Anything interesting happening in rural Minnesota?” _

_ “I grew up in the city, actually,” Barley answered casually. “It was a bit more exciting there than it is out here. Not that I miss it, really. At all.” _

_ “Why’d you move out to the middle of nowhere?” Ravenpaw asked, then wondered if it was offensive to call the countryside the middle of nowhere.  _

_ “Oh, well, my brother tried to shoot my little sister in order to be accepted into a gang, so she and I moved as far away from there as possible the moment I turned eighteen,” Barley disclosed, clearly trying to sound like it didn’t bother him, but his voice shook a little during the last few words. Ravenpaw’s jaw dropped.  _

_ “Oh my god,” Ravenpaw said, turning his head to stare at Barely, trying to keep his eyes from widening to much. “That’s awful.” _

_ “We’re okay now,” Barley assured him, as if it were no big deal and his breathing hadn’t noticeably increased since the topic was brought up. “She lives in town with her boyfriend now, and she’s pregnant with their first child. She’s actually really happy now.” _

_ “What about you?” Ravenpaw couldn’t help but ask. At that point he felt a bit guilty about ranting about his problems as long as he had when Barley so clearly had it worse, even though he knew that was irrational because trauma wasn’t a contest.  _

_ “I live on a farm on my own. I’ve never exactly been social, so I don’t mind the seclusion. It’s actually pretty calming,” Barley told him, although the fact that he’d spilled so much of himself to a near stranger spoke otherwise.  _

_ “Are you sure your fine living all alone?” Ravenpaw couldn’t imagine not having someone nearby while he slept, in case he was attacked in his sleep or something. Barley just shrugged, so Ravenpaw dropped the topic. “I really don’t want to go back to the hotel.” _

_ “Then don’t,” Barley said simply, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world, and perhaps it was. “Stay with me for a bit longer. Please.” Maybe it was the quick closeness that came from instant trauma bonding talking, or the fact that he hadn’t made such a strong emotional connection in months, but Ravenpaw did want to stay there. Forever.  _

_ “I haven’t felt this close to someone in years,” Ravenpaw confessed, sitting up and staring at the road in the distance. Barely echoed his motion, a comforting presence beside him.  _

_ “Me neither,” Barley agreed, voice soft, and Ravenpaw turned to face him, breath catching in his throat at how sincere the other man seemed. Before he really could think about it, Ravenpaw leaned forward and kissed him. For a moment, he almost shocked himself into pulling away, but then Barley’s hand was cupping his cheek, and he knew that he had made the right decision.  _

There was a knock at the door, and Ravenpaw looked up from where he was playing cards with Bella and Riley. They had left on their trip just the day before, and Barley had still refused to come with them. Now Ravenpaw was sitting on the bed in a hotel room, playing Crazy 8s with Violet’s two twelve year old children. 

Ravenpaw set his cards down and climbed off the bed, the two children watching curiously as he walked to the door. He expected it to be housekeeping or some other form of hotel staff, and didn’t even consider a different possibility until he opened the door, and there was Barley. Ravenpaw gawked. 

“I’m sorry,” Barley blurted out immediately, and Ravenpaw couldn’t do anything but stare at him for a few moments. There was an expression of guilt donning the other man’s face, and he knew from experience how sincere it was. 

“Barley? What are you doing here?” Ravenpaw asked the moment he could remember how to make his mouth move, his brain trying to process how his husband had even known where he was.

“So I’ve spent the last day reflecting on a lot, and I kind of realized that I really don’t want to spend two and a half months without you. So, uh, is it too late for me to come along?” Barley looked sheepish, and Ravenpaw had no idea what to say, just continuing to stare at him for what was probably too long. “And, um, how has your trip been?”

“It’s been fun,” Ravenpaw found himself saying, a grin beginning to spread over his face as the situation finally registered. “Better now that you’re here. Of course you can come in, silly. What made you change your mind?”

“Well,” Barley started, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “I think I got so caught up in how much I love our life that I forgot what I loved about it. Home isn’t our house, or our routine, or my job. My home is where you are, Ravenpaw.”

“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Ravenpaw replied shakily, trying to will the tears out of his eyes. He grabbed Barley’s hands and squeezed, trying to communicate what he couldn’t find the words to say. 

“Then I should probably say it more,” Barley told him sincerely, then bit his lip in what seemed to be embarrassment. “Also, I kind of thought you left because you were bored of me. I see now why that was stupid.”

“Of course it’s stupid,” Ravenpaw agreed with a giggle, beginning to feel giddy with the realization that Barley was there, and coming with him. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Barley echoed with a smile, and then Ravenpaw had to kiss him, just a quick peck, but apparently enough to make Bella and Riley go “eww” loudly from the bed. Ravenpaw had honestly forgotten they were there. 

“Uncle Barley! You’re coming with us! Yay! Ooh, I saw the coolest dog at a gas station today…” As Bella rushed over to hug Barley and tell him everything that had happened in the past two days, Ravenpaw watched with a smile as Barley was properly respondent to his niece and nephew. A content feeling bloomed in his chest, and he knew without a doubt that this was where he was supposed to be. 


End file.
